The next best thing

to jump on a non-stop flight to Hawaii for a plate of laulau, is be to test out a recipe for crockpot laulau. Found a recipe from a shared post on FB that took me to 3sister3kitchen blog that looked good. 

Of course, being here in NJ means no luau leaves aka taro leaves. After some research for a substitute, I decide on collard greens. The 3sister3kitchen recipe suggest spinach but it has such strong flavor I was looking to try something else.

I found this video from Sunny Anderson from the Food Network talking about her version of laulau and using collard greens. How it was good substitute because the greens are usually cooked with pork. When I looked at the green, I kind of thought they even looked a little bit of taro leaf. So that's why I decided to used it for this test. I also read that kale may work well with this. Maybe I'll try it for another test. I'll keep the kale for my chopped salad that I've been loving.

Here's the start of my crockpot laulau test. 

Filling up the pot with the goodies

Following the recipe, I lined the crockpot with the blanched greens, add pork then layered the salmon on top. I seasoned with hawaiian salt. Wish I could find butterfish here, but it's not too easy. Been craving butterfish misoyaki. I guess I have to test out misoyaki on salmon or chilean sea bass.

ready to start cooking

Then I layered the rest of the greens on top. Now to wait all day for it to be done. 

After all of the laulau prepping, I decided to give my kitchen a good scrub before I start something new. I already finished up a batch of apple butter this morning. 

Add vanilla bean to this recipe. Smell so good

[Oh, my, oh, my only 3 1/2 hours into cooking and it already seems so good. 6 1/2 hours to go. I hope I can hold out till then for a taste. This will be my lunch for tomorrow. I can't wait. I better cook a pot of rice.]

Meanwhile after the good scrub, I decide to try again with the macarons. I know from Hawaii to France. Who would have thought. But I've wanting make both of these for a while. I was just in the mood today.

Made up this batch using the recipe from JoyofBaking.com. I have batch of vanilla bean swiss buttercream in the frig and some lilikoi curd plus a bunch of other jams to fill with 

waiting to set up

First sheet in and out. Cracked. :(

Cracked and no feet but still taste good.

Could be not rested enough or under beaten meringue. May need another minute. I got this troubleshooting macarons from Not So Humble Pie blog. Let's see if second sheet comes out better.

Second sheet. Better.

These have little feet.

Well, not too bad, I'll still fill and eat them. And try again soon, maybe at the end of the week. I hope they come out better. 

And now for what I've waited all day for. Tah Dah! Crockpot Laulau. Smells so good. 

Right before it was done.

first scoop

my dinner!

This is so delicious and worth the wait. Not the exact flavor of the laulau and the collard has a different texture but the pork is so soft and greens has a great flavor from the pork and salmon. I think by adding the salmon gave it that umami flavor that food from Hawaii have. Like adding the the sea to it. 

If you don't live in Hawaii, craving some laulau and can wait 10 hours, this is most definitely a dish to make. 

Payment in food

Before I forget, Thank you so much C's Dad for all the work you did at the house. We totally appreciate it. And to C's Mom thanks for loaning out your handy husband on this trip. And one last thank you to C, C's Mom, C's Dad and B for the pillow to calm my hot flashes. It's keeping me at a steady coolish temp throughout the night.

I love to cook for people who love to eat. And I had the perfect house guests for it. 

All of my cooking came about by a visit from C, C's Mom, C's Dad and B. They were in town to get C situated with her car and apartment. I asked the very handy C's Dad if he could help me out with a few projects around the house if he had sometime. In payment, I would cook up some meals for them.

C, C's Mom and B were off on an adventure exploring Lambertville, New Hope and Princeton for the day and while C's Dad and I tackled the gym. Pictures of the gym are here. And what we found in the process of the setting the gym up, inspired our dinner for the  night. GRILL! 

This grill was sitting in a box in our garage for I don't know how long.